Previously proposed moving walkways of the type consisting of flat belts have used thick belts (typically of a thickness of 20 mm to 30 mm) which returned about large diameter rollers (typically of the order of 600 mm) and at their terminations had end plates which were straight edged and which lay transversely across the width of the belt. In order to provide as smooth an exit surface as possible the edge of the end plate was kept as close as possible to the tangent point of the belt, consistent with the necessity of achieving adequate strength of the end plate in a vertical direction, and the need to radius the edge of the plate so it did not present a knife-like edge. In order to achieve these aims the underside of the end plate closely followed the radius of the belt surface for some distance so that there was a relatively long narrow slot, in the direction of movement, between the two surfaces. This provided strength in a vertical direction and it was also believed that this arrangement would inhibit ingestion of flexible material. In practice, this was not the case and thin material, under pressure from above, could pass between the belt and the end plate and become caught. Because of the relatively large surface area, where the material was pressed by the underside of the end plate against the ingoing belt surface, any material so caught could suffer quite a strong ingesting force. In addition, any material being pulled vertically by the user, in an attempt to extract a piece of clothing for example, was required to turn over the edge of the end plate through an acute angle of approximately 70 degrees. If the pulling force was horizontal the angle increased to about 160 degrees. These acute angles considerably increased the difficulty of extraction. In one case, in 1960, a small girl sitting on a belt having end plates of this type had her dress ingested so tightly that not only could she not release herself, she was in fact killed by the tightened material.
In order to overcome this problem the now universally used ribbed belt having end combs was adopted. In this arrangement, the combs enter the spaces between the ribs so there is no substantial width of end plate which can ingest fabric as had previously been the case. However, it has been found that the frayed soles of modern footwear, shoelaces and the like can be caught in the comb and the heels of high-heeled shoes may enter between the belt ribs and impact on the end of the comb often tearing off the heel and this can cause a wearer to fall. Also, comb teeth can become broken and this can exacerbate the difficulties and on a number of occasions have removed fingers and toes of children. Most accidents on current moving walkways involve the ribs and combs at the exit point.